Latest Auto Headlines
All the headlines from our Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Highway Death Toll Takes Troubling Turn: Up 8.1% This Year
Nov 25 2015 // The death toll on U.S. highways rose 8.1 percent in the first half of 2015 as low fuel prices contributed to a jump in miles driven by Americans, according to new figures from the Transportation Department. The preliminary...
3 Earn Award for Combating Auto Insurance Fraud in Massachusetts
Nov 24 2015 // Two police officers and a prosecutor who work in the Northwestern District Attorney’s office in Northampton, Massachusetts, have earned a national award for combating auto insurance fraud. Det. Lt. John Cummings,...
Texas Sees Continued Increase in Vehicle Crashes, Fatalities
Nov 23 2015 // For the fourth year in a row, the numbers of vehicle crashes in Texas involving both injuries and fatalities have risen, an insurance trade group reported. Both numbers began rising dramatically in 2012, when Texas highway...
Seniors Fitted for Safe Driving Through Virginia’s Car Fit Program
Nov 23 2015 // William Cohen beeped his car horn, making those nearest jump and then laugh. Getting the all-clear from a nearby Albemarle County, Virginia, police officer, the senior driver took off for the parking lot exit in his black...
Technology to Improve Truckers Safety Tested in Utah
Nov 23 2015 // Utah is test-driving new technology that could improve safety and fuel efficiency for big-rig truckers. The Utah Department of Transportation started conducting field tests last week of a vehicle-to-vehicle communication...
State Auto Companies Name LaRocco, Kunk as Board Chairs
Nov 19 2015 // State Auto Financial Corp. has named President and CEO Michael E. LaRocco chairman of STFC to succeed current Chairman Robert P. Restrepo Jr. upon his retirement from the STFC board at the end of the year. STFC’s...
GEICO 1st Auto Insurer in N.Y. to Offer Digital ID Cards for Policyholders
Nov 18 2015 // New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced that GEICO has become the first insurer in New York State to complete the certification process through the Department of Motor Vehicles to allow customers to begin using electronic...
Telematics Changing Drivers’ Behavior: Insurance Research
Nov 18 2015 // Telematics devices offered by auto insurers appear to working to change the behavior of drivers. More than half (56 percent) of the 1,135 drivers participating in an Insurance Research Council (IRC) public opinion survey...
California DMV’s Pedestrian Pace on Self-Driving Car Rules Makes Google Antsy
Nov 17 2015 // Hustling to bring cars that drive themselves to a road near you, Google finds itself somewhere that has frustrated many before: Waiting on the California Department of Motor Vehicles. The tech titan wants the freedom to...
100-Year-Old South Carolina Man Dies After Driving Car into Tree
Nov 16 2015 // Authorities say a 100-year-old man has been killed after the car he was driving on a private road at a gated South Carolina island resort ran into a tree. S.C. Highway Patrol Lance Cpl. Hannah Wimberly said the wreck...
How to Know What Insurance Customers Want
Nov 16 2015 // What do today’s customers want from insurance providers? They want understanding, interaction, even a relationship. But they vary in when and how they wish to learn, interact and build a relationship. Insurance...
Delaware Won’t Approve ‘Widow’s Penalty’ in Setting Auto Rates
Nov 16 2015 // Delaware Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart announced that her department will not approve any auto insurance company’s rate submission that includes a “widow’s penalty,” under which a...
Competition Consumers Deserve
Nov 16 2015 // Consider the scenario: A family of three suffers an accident and needs to replace several parts on their car. It’s an expensive ordeal. In our current system, drivers are forced to rely largely on replacement parts...
Commercial Insurance Rates, Except Auto and Flood, Still Falling
Nov 16 2015 // Commercial property/casualty insurance prices continued to decline moderately – an average of 3.1 percent – during the third quarter, according to a survey by The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers. The...
E&O Insights: Personal Lines Generates More Errors & Omissions Exposure than You Think
Nov 16 2015 // Most agents’ errors and omissions (E&O) carriers report that commercial lines generates the majority of E&O claims. However, a significant number of E&O claims arise from the sale and service of...
State Auto Names Centers Sr. VP, General Counsel
Nov 15 2015 // State Auto Financial Corp. has appointed Melissa A. Centers as senior vice president, secretary and general counsel. She succeeds Jay Yano, who passed away in September. Her in-house legal practice focuses on information...
Hudson Insurance Group Appoints Honken as Sr. VP, Commercial Auto
Nov 13 2015 // Hudson Insurance Group (Hudson) has appointed Ronald Honken to a newly created position as senior vice president of all commercial auto business. He will be based in Hudson’s Indianapolis office. Honken will direct...
A Conversation on Innovation and the Industry’s Future with ACORD’s Hartnett
Nov 9 2015 // There are not many insurance executives who will quote inventor Thomas Edison, Microsoft’s Steve Baumer, futurist Alvin Toffler, Moore’s Law and philosophers Aristotle and Plato. There are also not many people...
Mass. Drivers to Receive $5.4M in Relief on High-Interest Auto Loans
Nov 9 2015 // A national auto lender has agreed to provide $5.4 million in relief to more than 450 Massachusetts consumers over allegations that it charged excessive interest rates on its subprime auto loans, Massachusetts Attorney...
House, Senate Transportation Bill Compromise to Address Auto Safety
Nov 9 2015 // The multiyear transportation bill that passed the U.S. House this week parcels out a number of provisions on auto safety and environmental regulation sought by interest groups including automakers, dealers and safety...